We also have her first tooth (picture here).  This depends a bit on when you consider babies to “have” their first tooth.  We can see it (top right) but she hasn’t cut it yet.  With Abe, we didn’t count it until his cut because it kept disappearing behind swollen gums.  Her’s however hasn’t hidden at all, but has just stayed put since we first spotted it on August 17th.

Even though she’s been rolling since three months, she now uses her barrel rolling skills to get places as well as forward scooting (army crawling).  She is constantly on her hands and knees rocking, ready to take-off, and often ends up on her face in her effort to do so.  I keep telling Abe that any day now she’ll be crawling and we’ll have to watch the toys much more closely.

From three to six months, April essentially “smiled-on-command.”  All it took was a glance and a coo her way to set her off.  Since then she has become a bit more wary and strangers have to earn that beautiful grin.  However, she does laugh more easily now and that is lots of fun.  Just this morning I had her going by doing “SO BIG!” and “patty-cake”, both of which she loves.  Daddy can usually get her with wiggly fingers coming in for a tickle and Abe gets her by just being silly, crazy big brother Abe.  It is also fun to watch her anticipate things.  My favorite is when she’s on the floor and sees Dexter coming; closes her eyes and gets all “scrunchy-face” knowing that a lick is headed her way.

I’m hoping to post a video-collage soon which shows much of these things in action.  We’ve had quite the summer and while, sad to see it coming to an end we are excited for what the fall brings too!!

True to my word, we didn’t sing “Happy Birthday” to him because he didn’t want us to (not that I didn’t try).  He did want to blow out his candle, so that was a plus.  He also ate his cup cake and opened his gifts (although there were moments when I didn’t think either of those would happen).

Turns out I lied a little bit; I did make him take a group picture.  Somewhere in the bizarre recesses of my brain I decided that a group picture would be fun to have.  I wasn’t expecting much.  No one had to smile or anything for it – I just wanted them all in it (and even that didn’t happen – I missed one.  Aaron, where were you?).   In fact, I expected about what I got.  Is it bad that this is my favorite picture from the day?

Basically we did all the birthday stuff at our house.  The cake and ice cream, the gifts, and lots of play, play, play.  Since we’d just gotten back from our vacation it was really good to see everyone and try to catch up amidst all the mayhem.

After all that was complete and while Abe was agreeable in going (sigh), we headed to the Big Bounce.  Hind-sight is 20/20, and I should have called before we left to see how busy they were.  Turns out they had a wait.  Understandably, much of our party decided not to stick around; they were saying 30 minutes to an hour.  Those of us that stayed the course ate our sack lunches in the waiting room.  Before we were even half finished eating, they started calling our names to go in and jump.  I was so glad we had stayed and it ended up working out just perfect.

Abe had a blast.  He bounced and jumped and slid and climbed with all of his friends.  It was a great way to finish the party out.  We did have one scary moment.  Abe decided to mimic an older boy by trying to go behind a climb-structure (the only non-inflatable thing) and in the process got his head stuck.  I mean really stuck.  I couldn’t get it out.  With all the noise there was no way I could have yelled for help and I really couldn’t leave him as he was starting to freak out.  Thankfully, three other parents (two moms and a dad) saw what was going on and it took all of their strength to pull the railing back far enough for me to squeeze Abe’s head back out.  Yikes!  But if you take that moment out, the party was a big hit!  Thanks so much to all of you that celebrated our big guy with us!!

If you want to see all of the party pictures, go here.

Since both kids are quite young we knew stops, play time and lots of flexibility would make or break the trip.  With that in mind, we planned one big stop each day and just took the rest of the drive in stride, stopping as needed.  On Friday we swam at a pool in Little Rock, Arkansas, and then that night we ate some great BBQ in a beautiful park in Memphis.  Saturday’s stop was Mammoth Cave (left) in Kentucky.  (We were very pleased that they had outdoor kennels that you could rent for your dog so we could actually go.  More places need to do this, like, say, at The Arch in St. Louis…)  Saturday night we crashed with Mike’s cousin Michelle and her boys just south of Columbus.

Since Sunday (the 4th) was an easy driving day, we met my best friend of 22 years and her family at the Columbus Zoo (right and below) for the day.  It is impossible to hit the entire zoo in one day it is so huge.  I’d guess we covered about 25% of it.  Thankfully, Sarah and her family have season passes, so they had the inside scoop on the cool things to do: the train, the boat, and, of course, the animal show.  All were super big hits with Abe.  It really wasn’t about the animals of course; for me, it was about reconnecting with Sarah, Matt and the kids.  Once we left, I asked Abe what his favorite animal was.  He said, “The giraffes…did they have giraffes?”  Me: “No, actually, they didn’t.”  Abe:  “Oh, then the elephants.”  I think his mind was made up before we ever set foot in the zoo.  We then drove the remaining couple hours to Mike’s hometown, arriving in time for the most impressive firework display I have ever seen.

For more pictures of our drive up, click here.

Part II – Ohio (July 5 – 15)

The next ten days were spent hanging out with Mike’s family.  We spent a lot of time just chilling at either Mim’s or Katie’s.  Ryan and Katie were nice enough to let us bring Dexter whenever we came over.  This meant we got some up close wild-animal-kingdom entertainment as Dexter and their cat Lucy interacted.  Dexter got a bloody nose one time – which he deserved – and one time Lucy was in Dexter’s mouth – which she did not deserve.  Poor cat.  She climbed a tree for the first time in her life.

It was good to be in town for such a long time and just take the days as they came.  Many afternoons were spent at the city pool or playing in the sprinklers at Grandma’s.  Other fun things included the Massillion Rec Center (indoor water park), Tuscora Park (kids amusement park), a magic show, a petting zoo and some shopping.  It was fun for Abe to get to know his cousins and Uncle Ryan and Aunt Katie (he knows Grandma Mim).  Abe and Mallory especially played so well together and Abe has been branded “the tickle monster” by Aunt Katie.  A week and a half after we had left home and Abe said to Mike, “I no longer live at my house.”  He wasn’t upset about it or anything; just stating “facts”.  April just tagged along wherever we went and remained the happy, easy baby that we are use to.

Fire flies were in abundance in Ohio, especially at Grandma’s.  When they came out at dusk was my favorite part of the day.  If we were driving, it was so beautiful to watch them light up the fields and I couldn’t help but thank God for His creativity in making them.  If we were at Grandma’s already, Mike and Abe would go out to catch them while I put April to bed.  There were so many that Abe could catch them easily, and one time even caught one in his mouth!

For more pictures of our time in Ohio, click here.

Part III – Family Reunion (July 16 – 18)

Every year Mim’s side of the family gets together for a family reunion.  It’s held in Pennsylvania, about a 3 hour drive from Mike’s home town.  Three hours, that is, if you don’t have to stop 5 times in the first 10 miles out of town and don’t take the scenic route to get there.  It’s typically held at a Mennonite camp south of Pittsburgh and is just a great time to chill, eat, swim, do puzzles, play games, etc.  This was my fifth reunion, Abe’s third, and April’s second.  Well, April’s second if you count that I was 11 weeks pregnant with her at the reunion last year.  So really her first and the first time for all of the family to meet her.  Not surprisingly, she was a main attraction and was her typical smiley, happy self.  She handled being passed around like a champ.  In fact, both kids did fantastic.

I knew April would be the youngest one there; what threw me a bit was that BOTH of our kids were the youngest ones there.  Granted, Abe is only a couple of months younger than the next, but it was quite a wake up call to realize that poor April won’t have any cousins, even second cousins, near her age.  In fact, if there is one thing that hit me the most over this entire trip it was how young our kids still are.  In my mind Abe is getting so big, and he is, but he is still very young.  Time is going fast, but he’s not graduating from high school yet or anything.

The reunion ended on Sunday after lunch and then we drove back to Mim’s where we spent the night.  After a late breakfast with Katie and the kids on Monday we were headed out of town to begin the next phase of our trip.

For more pictures from the reunion, click here.

Part IV – Goshen, IN (July 19 – 20)

On the drive up from Mike’s family in Ohio to mine in Michigan we stopped in Indiana to see more of family, this time on Mike’s Dad’s side.  The main attraction of this stop was to see Grandma Irene.  We arrived at Uncle Paul and Aunt Anita’s just in time to crash their dinner.  Grandma was there, but left just minutes (if that) after we arrived;  she’d had a long day and was ready to turn in.  We spent a very nice evening with Paul and Anita, Doug and Val, and Faye.  It was nice to spend some time with them all and get to know them just a bit better.  Except for Faye, I’d only ever met everyone at our wedding reception in Ohio, and this was my first time meeting Val.  I can’t think of anyone in Mike’s family that I don’t like and this was no exception.  Abe had a blast playing guitar and hanging by his feet (wish I had a picture of that) with Uncle Paul and Uncle Doug got his workout swinging our little guy around.  Aunt Val loved on April when she wasn’t asleep on Mommy; Anita got her April time the next morning.  I’m not sure why I don’t have any pictures of Aunt Faye…

Speaking of the next morning, we were hopeful to spend some time with Grandma then, but unfortunately, circumstances conspired against us and it didn’t work out.  That was the only big disappointment of the trip, not being able to spend time with her.  We were blessed by Anita and Faye joining us at our hotel for coffee and a little more hang time.  After some brief window shopping at the Old Bag Factory, we headed up to my parents’ place in Michigan.

Click here for a couple more pictures from Indiana.

Part V – Michigan (July 21 – July 30)

Tuesday afternoon we arrived at my parents’ house.  After the reunion and the drive up, we were so happy to crash somewhere, knowing we didn’t have another long drive for a while.  The weather was beautiful and that first evening my brother took us out on their lake in his boat.  What a perfect night for a ride and a swim.  Crazy Uncle Jeff even let Abe drive!  My sister and her family was due to arrive sometime on Friday, so while we waited for them we hung with my parents, hit some playgrounds, saw my friend Holly and her four beautiful children (the youngest a recent addition from Haiti), and played on the “germ tree” at the mall.

When Jill, Ron and the kids showed up we went into overdrive to keep kids and adults busy with summer fun.  After all, we had less than a week to hit the Holland Aquatic Center, Grand Haven’s boardwalk, Fredrick Meyer Garden, Tunnel Park/Beach, and more.  It was crazy-great to have the whole family in town.  I wish it could have been longer and allowed for some more down-time, but it was still wonderful.

To see more of our pictures from Michigan, click here.  I’ve even included a bunch from my sister.

Part VI – Upper Peninsula (July 31 – August 3)

On Friday afternoon we siblings went our separate ways:  Jill and her family headed back to New England, Jeff and his family left for camping, and we went left with Mom for Michigan’s beautiful Upper Peninsula (Dad and Dexter were already there).  My Dad is an interim pastor and is currently at a church (left) about a half hour north of the bridge.  Finally, we found some cooler weather!  It was beautiful and quiet up there; sunny and cool during the day and pitch black and still at night.  It was also the first time that we were able to break out the cards and play some Rook with Mom and Dad.  Early bedtimes for the kids!!

Saturday we went to Sault Ste. Marie to see the locks (above left) and on Sunday we hit Brimley Park to swim in Lake Superior (above right).  Monday’s destination was the main attraction: Mackinac Island (below).  I kid you not – on Sunday night at 10:30pm we checked the weather, sunny with highs in the 80s, so we bought our ferry tickets.  We woke Monday morning to 75% chance of thunderstorms.  Seriously?  I could have cried.  But alas, we Dutchmen will not let good tickets go to waste.  We boarded the boat in the POURING rain, both kids in tow.

The cool thing about Mackinac Island is that motor vehicles have been banned since 1898.  Therefore, the only way to get around on the island is by foot, horse, horse-drawn carriage, or bicycle.  We arrived at the island just in time for lunch, so that was our first order of business.  With it still raining after lunch, we decided this was the best possible time to do our carriage ride, and we were right.  There is something very soothing, relaxing, and almost romantic about riding in a horse-drawn carriage in the warm rain while seeing and hearing all about the abundant history the island holds.  What was even better was that just toward the end of the tour, the rain let up and the sun came out.  The rest of the day was beautiful, even if a little on the warm side.  Hopefully we can make it back one day and rent bikes to tour the island from.

Tuesday we headed back over the bridge (the third longest bridge in total suspension in the world) and began the journey south once again.  We spent the night at my parents’ house, but before heading there we stopped where Jeff and Shelly were camping to spend the evening with them.  We hit the pool, took another boat ride, played on the playground and even sat by the campfire a bit.  So nice!  Wednesday was our last day in Michigan before we headed home.

Click here for more U.P. pictures.

Part VII – The Drive Back (August 4 – 7)

Thursday morning our trip was essentially done and it was time to begin the long trek back to the Lone Star State.  Our first day on the road was a short one since we stopped to visit and stay with Mike’s cousin Jen and her husband Damian in Indianapolis.  They have a dog, Frida, and she and Dexter became fast friends.  They played… and played… and played.  We went downtown for pizza and walked around some before retiring back at their place.  It was so nice to see their new house and spend time with them.  They are both so good with kids and Abe had a blast.  After breakfast with Jen in the morning (Damian had to work), we were headed to The Arch in St. Louis.

We’ve been to St. Louis a few times and have always enjoyed it.  While we’ve both been up in the Arch, this was our first time to go up together.  Of course, it was also the first time for both of the kids.  Even though this stop always seems to take longer than you think it should, it’s a nice break and well worth it.  We spent that night in Springfield, Missouri.  We made the decision to try for home the next day even though it meant driving three hours longer than normal.  We stopped in Tulsa at a city pool and playground and then pushed for home.  Texas, how we’ve missed your blue skies!  At 1:00am on Sunday morning we pulled into our own driveway – home sweet home.   It was totally worth the extra effort to be able to sleep in our own beds and Abe gave an audible sigh of joy to be back in his.  What troopers both kids were.   We all slept in and woke up the next morning to celebrate a special family birthday in our own home.  Sweet indeed.

Click here for more pictures of our drive back.

Our trip in numbers (not including day trips): 3940 miles,  68 hours driving, 12 different states, 10 different beds, 1761 pictures.

He talks like crazy and is very articulate, especially for his age.  This seems to be what people comment on the most when they meet him.  There are so many things that he’ll say or the way he says them and our eyes just light up with pleasure.  Things like “Seriously?” and “I’m just doing…” and “I do… but I don’t.”  Because he does talk so well, I can’t help but smile when he mispronounces things.  My favorites still are “ire fant” (fire ant) and “Snorties” (Smarties).  He also likes to give us status updates, which are basically play-by-play commentary on his actions at the given moment.  We are convinced that the invention of Twitter came from mimicking a two year old.

Abe knows all his letters and counts to 30.  Reading books, puzzles, and singing are daily favorite activities.  Trains are still an obsession and he still talks about how we rode on Thomas way back in October.  However, currently Boz is his favorite fictional character and his DVD of choice, if he gets one.

This summer started rocky with swimming in the pool.  However, towards the end of June we got through a crazy fear of toys floating in the water (a.k.a. losing them in the drain) and now he is jumping in, going under water, and swimming (with help).  Where in May/June I couldn’t bribe him enough to go to the pool, he now is begging to go swimming as much and he asks to go on the playground, which is a lot.

We have our challenges too.  The terrible twos and, especially is seems the upcoming threes, have been exhausting at times.  Abe has been know to say, “I am doing bad things!” and indeed, he does.  He has what we refer to as the illogical two-year-old (three-year-old?) brain and often the result of that is an attitude, a tantrum, or whining.  Trying to understand this lack of logic resulted in our realizing that much of our world thinks like a two year old.  As far as we can deduce, it boils down to this:  What I want to be true I will call truth even if that is clearly not the truth.  For example, Abe will say, “Will you play with me?” and I’ll respond, “I can’t right now, I’m changing April’s diaper.”  He’ll then respond, loudly, “No you’re NOT.”  Um, looking down to confirm my actions, yes I am.  We have these logic “fights” all the time.  I remember driving behind one of those big dump trucks that says on their rear, “Stay back 300 feet.  Not responsible for broken windshields!!”  My immediate thought was, Just because you claim to not be responsible doesn’t automatically mean you aren’t. And that’s when it hit me!  That’s just how our two year old thinks!!  Our world has the brain of a two year old!!  That explained so many things… I could write another whole blog about this and how it ties into the world’s rejection of Christ.

Well, this post is already way too long, but I have to quick add how sweet Abe is with April.  When she’s fussy (which, granted, isn’t often but it happens) I love how he consoles her.  I’ll hear him say “Shhh…” or “There, there sweetie” or, my favorite, when he sang Jesus Loves Me to her.  What a special heart he has.  I’m sure I’ve missed a ton of things; it’s impossible to put into words every amazing thing about Abe.  All I know is, just like his Daddy, he still makes me catch my breath at the beauty of who he is and who he is becoming.  God has blessed us with an amazing boy to love and raise (and of course, a little girl too, but this post is about Abe).

1 month old

2 months old

3 months old

4 months old

5 months old

6 months old

Be careful what you’re holding, because April grabs at everything right now.  She likes to watch her hand open and close, as if amazed that she can control it.  She is very much into exploring things with her hands as well as her mouth.  I’ve seen her actually try to move just her lips to try to get an object.  Everything her hands grab ends up in her mouth, but I’m pretty sure this is not due to teething – just exploring.

She is very vocal already.  Mike and I are regularly making the comment, “Who let a cat in?” because that is what she sounds like.  Not a quiet, purring cat, but one that is in a fight or howling.  She is loud and quite the talker.  Random babbling and “dadadadad” and “ma-ma” or “mum mum mum” are regular sounds we hear.  I know she is not really talking yet, but one time in particular it seemed so intentional:  I had just finished nursing her and she was leaning the side of her head against my chest.  It was just us and totally silent and the only sound she made was, “ma-ma.”  It was so sweet.

She also laughs.  It doesn’t happen a ton yet, so it’s special when it does.  Abe is usually the best at getting one.  Smiles, however, are a dime a dozen.  Anyone who coos at her gets an instant grin and it’s funny to see people melt – “She smiled at me!”  I don’t have the heart to tell them that she smiles at everyone.  The whole-body-smiles are our favorite; these usually come when we show up to get her out of her crib.

We continue to maintain that she is the easiest baby ever.

I had the privilege of telling the Bible story to ages 3, 4, and kinder.  That meant that of the five rotations of the day, I was teaching three of them in the Bible Barnyard.  Keeping 3 and 4 year olds interested in the story instead of the horses proved to be no easy task (the kinders were easier)!  I couldn’t blame them though; they were the only animals on the farm at the time and, well, who doesn’t want to pet and feed them?

With April being still quite young and nursing exclusively, she was the one I was concerned about.  Turns out that once again I found myself fretting about the wrong child.  April spent all five mornings in the nursery and was the perfect gem the entire time.  The easiest one they had and each day they fought over who would get to hold her.  I think this crew had one of the toughest and thankless jobs of the week, so here’s my shout-out to them and all the diapers they changed.  Y’all rock!!

What I hadn’t expected was for Abe to have a tough time with things.  He suddenly became quite clingy and wanted to spend the whole morning in the barn with me.  It wasn’t that this was a problem, but I knew how much he would love doing the crafts, singing the songs, and playing the games.  Thus, I  spent the two rotations that I wasn’t teaching in his class with him so he would see more of VBS than the barn.  However, Abe wasn’t the only 3 year old having trouble so I was comforted that this truly was an age thing.  The tantrums of the week reveled that the “trying threes” are going to be much tougher than the “terrible twos.”  I commented to a friend that I didn’t know if I was going to survive age three; she sweetly reminded me that I really didn’t have a choice.  I can only dream how the next years are going to stretch me.

We did have some amazing moments of shining beauty and I’m choosing those moments to remember the week by.  I tried to pick the top one from each day: Monday – While story telling, I asked the group to name who they love; Abe rose his hand and said, “Baby April.”  Melted my momma’s heart.   Tuesday – I had the pure joy of watching him during worship time sign all nine of the fruits of the Spirit.  Wednesday – The whole day was beautiful!  He did all the rotations on his own and loved every minute of it.  No “three-year-old” moments this day!  Thursday – He was so proud of the barn that he made in craft time that he just had to show it to me right away.  He LOVED the flaps and the animals.

Friday‘s memory came at the evening program which took place at a local park.  I was sitting down next to a friend and her husband when I glanced at the one water feature in the park only to see my son naked from the waist down, in the process of removing his shirt.  (Most children if they aren’t in swim attire and want to get wet they just do so fully clothed; mine gets naked.)  To my relief I saw that Daddy, although too far to prevent full nude running, was en route to rectify the situation.  I was more than happy to let Mike handle this one and he was able to convince Abe to at least put on his undies.  And things only got better when he agreed to get fully clothed and sing his song for the actual program.

Each day over lunch I would ask Abe what his favorite part of VBS was.  His answers typically rotated between the barn and the songs.  Every once in awhile snack would creep in there.  I’ll still catch him signing certain fruits or telling me what they are.  And I still find myself using the lessons we learned to teach them to him, and myself, again.  Yeah, I’m going to need grow a lot of that patience that God calls us to.

**All pictures except the last one were taken by In the Still Photography.**

Unfortunately, it was really too early in the season to get a good showing of the bats as they left the bridge well after sunset and it was too dark to see them.  We all got a enough bat guano to make it a true experience though – that’s all that really counts.  We’re hoping to take Abe back in August when the bat population should be at its peak and the “mass exodus” from the bridge will happen while it’s still light enough to see them.  Maybe Ben and Matt will come back and join us!!

One of the best parts of the night was watching some impressive choreographed “dancing” on the side of the Hyatt Hotel.  It was clear this wasn’t random repelling, but we don’t know if it was for a music video or what.  In Austin, it could easily be for a low-budget independent film or a high-profile music artist – you just never know.

Matt ended up leaving town on Thursday so Ben came to hang exclusively with us.  We went to the Oasis one night for dinner and the boys spent Friday at Zilker Park and Barton Springs Pool.  (Of course, they didn’t take any pictures and Abe went in his pajamas – boys.)  Ben is always a pleasure to have around and Mike enjoyed being able to get out for some night life for a change.  I’m pretty sure Ben enjoyed Austin too.  When we were trying to decide what to do on Saturday, he replied, “I know what I want to do.  Find a job, a place to live and maybe a nice Texan…”  It’s hard no to love the jewel of Texas.